CHAPTER 4.5: MAIN CHARACTER

***The Exhibit Grounds, Holy Palatial Gardens…***

The grassy plains to the north side of the Holy Palatial Gardens were already filled with people even before the official time for the exhibits to open. Visitors came from all walks of life and from all the races constituting the population of Chersea and the Other Realms, they flocked to the Human Saint’s extensive official estate to gaze and wonder at the achievements of a peaceful and harmonious relationship between the human, beastfolk and demons. And since it was also an opportunity for some enterprising individuals to advertise their products and services and earn a living, the organizers permitted early ‘clients’, though with their own separate area, so as not to pose a danger (accidents) to the exhibits itself.

Among those who were selling their merchandise were a few beastfolk artists from Cherwind. Their sales pitch included the line that they were once beastmen refugees, and were taught to draw together. Now, they were selling books they call ‘speaking drawings’, but for Lady Hinwe Tal-Inwir, it was actually…

“This is a manga!” she exclaimed, almost surprising everyone else near who heard her shout. “You guys are doing manga?”

The beastmen artists exchanged confused looks, as Lady Hinwe’s companion and maid, Meanor, pulled her aside.

“Your Holiness,” the elf servant whispered. “If you keep shouting like that, you’d soon attract unwanted attention to you. Next time we know it, our cover is already blown, and the other saints will know that you are here.”

“M-My bad, Meanor,” the Elf Saint giggled, “It’s just that, I’m surprised these Dog tribe kids made manga. I can’t contain my excitement! I wanted to read those right now!”

“I understand you’re happy about it, Your Holiness, but keep your voice down is all I’m asking you.”

“Alright,” Lady Hinwe, disguised as a common elf by wearing ‘commoner’ clothes, then asked the beastman artists, “did you guys really make this?”

One of them, a dog-girl named Goots (as her small name-plate said), stepped forward, “Yes, Miss Elf! I personally made the drawings for book 1, then my siblings did books 2 and 3.”

“Ah, what’s the story all about?”

“Are you familiar with how Lady Ursura of the West Ursus became our queen?”

Lady Hinwe shook her head.

“That’s the gist of it!” the dog-girl triumphantly declared. “I won’t tell you here, though; or I’ll spoil the fun.”

The Elf Saint clapped her hands, “Interesting!”

“And do you know, Miss Elf?” Goots continued, “Let me share to you a little trivia; the King of Cherwind personally taught us how to draw, as well as other stuff like cooking and washing and—”

“Hold up, Goots!” another dog-girl, Moots, intervened. “You’re already holding back our customer from looking at other merchandise!” Then, Moots turned to the Elf Saint, “My apologies, Miss Elf. My sister really loves talking about our former teacher, which is His Majesty the King Kuro of Cherwind himself.”

“Kuro of Cherwind?” the elves exchanged puzzled looks.

“Oh, my bad. It is one of His Majesty’s nickname in our lands, the most famous of which is, ‘The Eternal King of Cherwind’,” Moots explained. “However, in these parts of Chersea, he is the ‘Lord Kuro of Arles’. I just learned that he is also a baron and a hero among humans. Well, I remember back then that the king looked unassuming, really, and he loves to teach and share his knowledge to us…including my playmates. In fact, we’d love to make a book of speaking drawings about him, but…”

“But…?”

“For some reason, we forgot about him,” the dog-girl revealed. “Hmm…I don’t know, Miss Elf. Maybe it’s because we of the Dog tribe just loved playing back then that we didn’t give too much attention to His Majesty the King.”

“Oh…” Lady Hinwe glanced at her maid; Meanor was also staring back at her. “Well, anyway, please give me each of those books.”

“Thanks for your patronage!”

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A few minutes later, the main exhibits opened. Already heavily laden with the items they purchased, Meanor complained to her mistress,

“Your H-Holiness, can we please go back and drop these off at the inn we’re staying at?”

“Eh, just give those to Gerard,” Lady Hinwe quipped. “I think we should complete going around this place in one go. The more times we return, the more likely the other saints will discover my presence. And they’ll be forced to go through the trouble of officially welcoming me. Ugh, I hate those formal events.”

“Well, t-true…w-wait, Your Holiness, G-Gerard? Who—?”

“Gerard,” the Elf Saint repeated the name, though in a forceful tone, as if she was trying to make Meanor remember immediately. “The guard…you know, Gerard…”

“Oh, right!” the elf maid finally recalled. “Yes, Gerard! Now, where is that guard? He’s supposed to be following us!”

“Told him earlier he can go around without us. He’s there…somewhere, I think?”

“I’ll make sure he’ll have his salary cut for guarding us so perfectly!” Meanor smiled, but Lady Hinwe could feel the dread oozing out from her.

“Come on! Don’t be so hard on the new guy!”

“Eh, you’re too kind as always, Your Holiness!”

Lady Hinwe only answered Meanor’s comment with a smile. Then, they continued walking down the cobblestone paths laid on the grass that guided them past the exhibits of the human, beastfolk and demon societies. The Elf Saint couldn’t stop herself from expressing her awe and admiration for the displays.

“Look Meanor, look!” she would call her maid’s attention frequently, much to the latter’s annoyance. “It says here that this is an hourglass! Apparently, humans, demons, and beastfolk use devices like these to tell and measure time!”

“I know, Your Holiness. I can read.”

“Meanor! Over there! That’s one huge furnace!”

“Your Holiness, the display says ‘steam machine’. It is invented by an owl-girl, Lady Salis of the Owls, with the help of the King of Cherwind, the Lord Kuro of Arles.”

“Steam…machine? Isn’t that the same as the ones running the trams and human trade ships we used to get here?”

“I believe so, Your Holiness,” the elf maid pointed to the other side of the ‘Steam Machine’ exhibit. “Look, there are ‘miniatures’ of this big machine. I guess these are the ones they installed in those transports?”

“Hmm…makes sense.”

“And check out the demon booths, too, Your Holiness!”

“D-Demon booths?”

“Well, duh, yes! I know they’re demons,” Meanor showed the Elf Saint the information card for the demon exhibit she picked. “Look, they may be demons, but their inventions are pretty good, too.”

“What’s that, anyway?”

“It says here that…hmm…a ‘data storage box’? Basically, it functions as a magic-operated storage meant for hundreds of books,” the elf maid scrutinized the sample model, which was shaped like a box with arcane designs. “Maybe a library of some sorts? But this is too small to fit even the lightest of magazines!”

“Possibly it’s like a hard disk drive?”

“A what?”

“A storage of files on my laptop. Maybe the demons would type the information—like copy the words written on a book, then store those there.”

“I guess it’s a similar device, then.”

Lady Hinwe didn’t answer, as she was quickly distracted by the other inventions. As her duty dictated, Meanor had to keep up with her mistress’ lead, thus she was forced to put down the ‘data storage box’.

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“This is really unfair,” the Elf Saint muttered one time she and her maid took a break from going around. They sat on one of the benches, having bought some ice cream to melt away their exhaustion.

“What is, Your Holiness?” Meanor offered her the other cone of ice cream she held. “You want more ice cream?”

Lady Hinwe shook her head, “The other saints didn’t even bother to invite me to their exhibits.”

“Hm? I believe everyone is invited,” the maid showed her to a nearby poster. “Look, it says, ‘all races from all walks of life are welcome’.”

“Still…” the Elf Saint’s shoulder dropped. “I’m also a saint…I mean, yes, my people hate me. We got no machines like that steam machine. And I don’t even bother to rule properly. But I’m still a saint…”

“I’m sure the other saints didn’t mean to exclude you,” Meanor tried to cheer her up. “Maybe, it’s because it’s been long since you went out of the tree palace and actually talked to other people, besides me, that they don’t even know if you’re still alive.”

“They’d know if I’m dead. We saints are required to come to the acclamation of new saints, particularly the human ones—since their lives don’t last long. Likewise, if I’m dead, and a new saint replaces me, they’ll come to Cherwoods.”

“I-I see…”

“Well, it’s not like they’re the ones at fault, Meanor,” Lady Hinwe heaved a sigh. “After all, you’re right. I rarely go out of my room, let alone the tree palace. Dealing with other people is a such a pain, really. You need to size up to their expectations, and you have to keep appearances so they’d always ‘respect’ you.”

Meanor had no answer for those words. She could only offer her other ice cream, which the Elf Saint accepted.

“Ah!” the Elf Saint raised her ice cream cone like how a warrior raised her sword, “If only I can enter the world of manga and be the main character! I’d gladly do it!”

“It’s unfortunate, Your Holiness, but you’ll have to live in real life,” the maid pointed out.

“True…”

A moment of complete silence. Lady Hinwe stood up, ready to go back in, looking around the exhibits. While Meanor understood where her mistress was coming from, she could still find no proper response to console the Elf Saint. But then, even with that sad conversation, Lady Hinwe was back to her usual self, as if that talk didn’t take place. So, as always, Meanor fixed her clothes and followed the Elf Saint’s lead.